Plans to build a two-story, 20,000 square-foot medical building in the Downtown Core have received a boost.
The Queen Creek Planning & Zoning Commission on Wednesday approved a recommendation for a site plan and to rezone 2 acres for the proposed Matheson Medical building.
The motion passed 5-0. Chair David Gillette was not present, and Commissioner Alex Matheson, who is a dentist and is developing the property, abstained from voting due to a conflict of interest.
Adam Baugh, a partner at the law firm of Withey Morris Baugh, represented the applicant, the Matheson family, at the commission meeting.
“I’m excited to bring it because you don’t have a lot of these types of projects that come to Queen Creek,” Baugh told the commissioners. “More importantly, you don’t have these types of urban projects. I think … the architect has done a great job executing the vision of the Mathesons.”
The project site is at the southeast corner of Ocotillo and Ellsworth Loop roads on a vacant lot. The commission approved staff’s recommendation to allow for a project site plan and to rezone the land from general commercial to Downtown Core. The matter will go to the Queen Creek Town Council for final approval on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
The proposed building will be bordered to the north by the under construction The Switchyard project, Brakes Plus to the south, Queen Creek Office Park to the east and a Popeye’s to the west.
The Switchyard is a $120 million multiuse project on the northeast corner of Ellsworth Loop and Ocotillo Road that is10 acres with 54,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and office space, plus a 215-residence luxury apartment community. It is on land formerly owned by the town and construction recently started on the first phase.
“I love how these two projects work hand in hand together,” Baugh said.
The site of the proposed building and two other properties south of it were intended to be located within the Downtown Core zoning boundary. However, the properties’ previous owner opted to keep the zoning as general commercial, according to a staff report.
The rezoning request comes with a planned-area development overlay that allows for flexibility in development standards. The overlay is required as developers are asking for three exceptions to Downtown Core zoning standards.
First, office use in the Downtown Core is allowed but is limited to a maximum of 3,000 square feet.
“Though the 3,000-square-foot size limit is intended to discourage large medical office uses within the DC zoning district, the project site location lends itself to provide for a larger medical office use while still providing a site design that encourages and supports a downtown setting as well as promoting pedestrian scale,” the staff report stated.
Other exceptions, as discussed by town Principal Planner Les Johnson, call for slightly smaller parking stalls and landscape islands.
The project will provide pedestrian connectivity through sidewalks along Ellsworth Loop and Ocotillo roads.
“With regards to the overall design architecture, it’s more of a desert contemporary, almost a little bit of mid-century modern elements within the proposed design,” Johnson said. “Some of the elements of architecture within this building will blend very well with The Switchyard project to the north.”
The building will be adjacent to Ocotillo Road with the main entrance on the building’s south side facing its parking lot.
The second floor will include an outdoor deck on the north and south sides, with the southwest corner deck covered.
“(This will be) a great little event space, if you will, that is covered but it’s also providing some cover to the first floor where there’s some public space as well,” Johnson said.
Along with providing landscaping, the developer will be building three decorative screen walls along Ellsworth Loop Road that will have art patterns depicting “fauna native to Queen Creek,” the report continued.
“It’ll add some creativity and attraction to the site and be very complementary to the overall site design,” Johnson said.
The applicant held a neighborhood meeting May 20, which one person attended, and no issues or concerns were raised.
“When you have a project like this, this to me shows the maturity of Queen Creek,” Baugh said. “It’s weird to say this is an infill site, but truly in Queen Creek, this is an infill site. And with infill sites, you need a little bit of creativity, a little bit of flexibility and problem solving. When you look at this piece, I think it was someone’s prior mistake to not go to (Downtwon Core) zoning and sticking with (general commercial), but now it’s our chance to correct it.”
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Janet PerezNews Editor | Florence & Queen Creek
Janet Perez has been a reporter and editor in Texas and Arizona for more than 30 years.
She has worked in newspapers, magazines, television, radio and websites.
She also served as director of communications for Baylor Law School and ASU Law School.
Her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Hispanic Business Magazine and more.
Janet was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and moved to Phoenix in 1992.
queen creek, planning and zoning commission, rezoning, downtown